7 Quick Takes Friday - Amusement Park Edition

~1~

We spent a day this week on our annual trip to Cedar Point. We plan this day for when most kids are already in school and before the end of the gorgeous weather. This means that the hour-long (and often much longer) lines are significantly shorter and the crowds are much thinner. This fact does not really detract from the overall affect of being thrown together with a mass of sweaty, sunburned, noisy, stinky, flesh-baring, screaming humanity. It was (and almost always is) a very fun day. It was (and almost always is) also a rather challenging day. I was so exhausted that I slept through the alarm clock the next morning. Apparently, it beeped for several minutes about two feet from my head before the Professor dragged himself out of his own bed to come in and turn it off. I never thought I'd hear my teenager grumbling at me for oversleeping!

~2~

I did a lot of bench sitting on our amusement park excursion due to the fact that I still have a nursing baby. That means I did a lot of people watching. One thing I noticed throughout the day was many young men walking around with rosaries around their necks. Cool, I thought. Must be lots of Catholics here. Youth groups or something. But then I noticed that these youngsters and their pals didn't act particularly Christian. At all. And their appearance and apparel in other ways was not... um... consistent with the original purpose of the rosary. I have since learned that this is a trendy fashion accessory for some young people. huh. Then I found this photo and things started to make sense...

David Beckham wearing FOUR rosaries for the sake of ... fashion.

~3~

One unfortunate (but very common) side affect of spending the day with all kinds of people with all kinds of different germs, is that we often come home with something contagious. And in spite of the fun that we all had together that day, I would have preferred to stay home myself rather than have a 9-month old with the full blown influenza today. This is the worst illness he's had in his short life; he's either sleeping fitfully or is awake and inconsolable. Oh, and vomiting. I almost forgot that one. Poor, poor baby. Waiting to see who it hits next.

~4~

I'm convinced this is the Flu Bench. He was in the stroller most of the day and I was careful to keep his mouth off of things and fingers out of his mouth. It was the end of the day and we were all wilting... my vigilance was wilting. He lost a shoe. He lost a sock. I gave up. My arms gave out and I put him down by that bench. If we could see germs with the naked eye, I'm sure the flu bug would be visible right there underneath his beautiful and healthy little paws.

~5~

In a moment of artistic genius (or was it just heatstroke?) I snapped this photo of the Professor and Little Cub... through a garbage can. I call it "Orange You Glad We Recycle?" Yes... it was likely heatstroke. *sigh*

~6~

Speaking of orange... we decided that everyone in our group should wear orange so that we could easily spot one another in the crowd. It was a great idea really (thank you, Chief). No one was lost and we received many compliments and "I think your group is over there" type comments. Professor wore his St. Maximillian Kolbe shirt that he received for Easter and had five or six inquiries about it which he was nicely prepared to answer.

~7~

Since we don't yet have a vehicle that fits all of us, the Chief splurged and rented a 12 passenger van for the drive. It was wonderful. Kind of like having one's own airport transport vehicle... but more comfortable. Perhaps we'll have one of our own someday soon. :)

My name is Melody... homeschooling mama of 8 (plus one in the arms of Jesus). Married 19 years to Mr. Right. Every moment is Grace and my Joy is God's Mercy. This is my place to seek His Beauty, give witness to Hope, and eat a good helping of Humble Pie.

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